From the Editor

From the Editor – Property of Estate and Exemptions

Interest in retirement plan received through marital dissolution decree was exempt. The Chapter 7 debtor received $80,000 interest in former husband’s tax-qualified employee retirement plan in a marital dissolution decree, and the funds were entitled to Illinois exemption, despite fact that the transfer meant that proceeds were no longer in hands of employee who had funded the plan. Under Illinois law, the retirement plan was marital property before the entry of marital dissolution, and the debtor’s interest became quantified as her separate property on entry of the decree. Although that interest became property of . . .

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Critical Case Comment – The Now Infamous Castleman Case

Henry E. Hildebrand, III

August 20, 2023

Equity that accrues as a result of market conditions in debtor’s assets between the time of confirmation of a Chapter 13 plan and conversion to Chapter 7 constitutes property of the estate which may be administered by the Chapter 7 trustee.

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September 27, 2020

By The Honorable William Houston Brown (Retired) Debtors’ attorney fees not authorized under Equal Access to Justice Act (EAJA). Although the Chapter 13 debtors had prevailed before the Ninth Circuit, In re Sisk, 962 F.3d 1133 (9th Cir. 2020), their application for attorney fees as prevailing parties under EAJA was denied. That Act did not authorize awards of attorney fees...

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Remembrances of a Retired Trustee

October 6, 2019

By Mike Fitzgerald It has been almost one full year since I retired as the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee in Seattle. I am happy to report that my family and I are enjoying ourselves immensely. As retirement grows more comfortable, I find myself looking back with mostly very fond memories at the nineteen years I served as a Trustee, as...

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Cathy Moran

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Mention keeping time records to a bankruptcy lawyer and you’re likely met with expressions of utter revulsion. All too many assert that the major appeal of being a bankruptcy lawyer is precisely that they don’t have to keep time. Between flat fee deals with clients, and no look fees in Chapter 13, they feel liberated from the clock and the...

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Debt Buyers Pay a Lot Post-Taggart

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You know it won’t go well for the creditor in a discharge violation when the opinion opens by characterizing the debtor as a single mother and registered nurse who discovers her $20k bank balance is now negative.

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Critical Case Comment

March 28, 2021

By Henry E. Hildebrand, III, Chapter 13 Standing Trustee (Nashville, TN) Section 1328(i) requires the court to consider the discharge provisions of §§ 1328(a) through (h) and the fact that incomplete personal residence mortgage payments or a forbearance do not preclude but do not compel a COVID-19 Discharge. (Tighe) In re Ritter, 2021 WL 864092 (Bankr. C.D. Cal. March 5,...

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October 13, 2019

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“The bankruptcy petition came to my desk for review with no entry for “clothing and wearing apparel”. Funny, I think I’d remember if I’d interviewed any naked people lately.” Although filled with Attorney Moran’s wit, there is an important lesson here! Feel free to add your own ‘naked client’ story in the comments section below the article.

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Meet a Newish Trustee

The Academy

June 18, 2023

By Regina Logsdon, Academy Executive Director Erin M. McCartney was appointed as the Chapter 13 Standing Trustee for the District of Nebraska beginning on January 1, 2022. Erin stepped into metaphorically very large and capable shoes as she replaced retiring Kathleen Laughlin. Erin grew up in Illinois, graduating college from Bradley University in Peoria (Go Braves!). Law school required a...

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Bankruptcy Intersecting with Tevis Equals Malpractice Claim

Nicole P. Novak

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A New Jersey attorney is the subject of a legal malpractice complaint for allegedly failing to properly preserve a marital tort claim as an exception to discharge. Asma J. Warsi v. Adrian J. Johnson (Case No. MID-L-001023-22, Super. Ct. of N.J., Middlesex County); In re Chaundry, 569 B.R. 372 (Bankr. D. N.J. 2017). In Chaundry, Creditor Wife had a marital...

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From the Editor – Property of Estate and Exemptions

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Related Articles

Critical Case Comment – The Now Infamous Castleman Case

From the Editor

Remembrances of a Retired Trustee

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Debt Buyers Pay a Lot Post-Taggart

Critical Case Comment

Taxes, Offset, and Mutuality

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Meet a Newish Trustee

Bankruptcy Intersecting with Tevis Equals Malpractice Claim

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